The present invention relates generally to cleaning devices and more specifically to a cleaning device having removable tanks and latches for the tanks.
The ability to use removable waste fluid as well as water tanks are well known in fluid cleaning devices. A typical example of a removable waste water tank is illustrated in Reissue U.S. Pat. No. 25,939.
Side by side fresh water and waste fluid tanks may be mounted about the handle with their bottom ends received in a recess in the cleaner and their top ends retained by a movable collar as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,101,505. Since this patent uses with gravity flow dispensing with simple valves, alignment of the outlets is not critical.
A concentric fresh water tank and dirty fluid tanks as a common housing with a handle acting as a latch is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,491,398. Another concentric removable construction is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,072. This is another gravity feed system and thus alignment of the outlet is not critical. Another concentric fresh water and waste fluid container which is detachably secured to a frame is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,040,362. The top is received in the bottom of the fluid separator and the bottom which has a gravity feed and is held in place by a cam which rotates about the longitudinal axis of the fluid container. The rotation of the cam moves the container up into the outlet of the separator housing. As with the previous devices, since it is a gravity feed, the alignment of the bottom outlet of the water container is not critical.
Systems which use a pressurized water supply generally attach the cleaning device to an external pressurized water supply. Thus, there is no alignment problem. Such device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,959,844.
An object of the present invention is to provide a unique unit having axially displaced tanks for a cleaning fluid and waste fluids for use in a cleaning device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a two tank assembly which is readily assembled using a minimal number of parts.
These and other objects of the invention are attained by aligning a first tank which contains a cleaning fluid and a second tank which would receive waste fluids displaced axially along a common axis and joining them by a conduit having a portion which engages the top of the first tank at a first end and is connected to the fluid inlet of the second tank at its other end so as to interconnect the tanks as a unit and provide a fluid inlet to the waste tank adjacent the top of the cleaning fluid tank. The top of the conduit extends past the cleaning fluid tank to act as a handle for the tank unit. The cleaning fluid tank includes a longitudinal recess through which the connector extends and the waste fluid tank has a neck which also extends into the longitudinal recess. The waste fluid tank also includes a longitudinal recess to permit alignment of the tank assembly to a cleaning device housing.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.